Barcelona Children’s Festival

The Children’s Festival has been entertaining kids since 1963. This year is no exception, with the festival boasting more than one hundred and fifty different activities of all kinds at the Montjuïc exhibition venue.

One of the main features this year is sport, with a recreation of the Olympic Stadium and the presence of some of Barça‘s footballers. Some of the other attractions include go-karts, ponies, traditional games, video games, concerts, magic shows and a visit from some of the Sesame Street characters from Port Aventura.

Take part in this unforgettable experience; in the numerous sporting, recreational and educational activities being organized at the Children’s Festival, a fabulous fiesta where fun is guaranteed. The best way to teach values ​​such as creativity, solidarity, respect for diversity and the environment. It also promotes the sport and the Mediterranean food. Here you can participate in interactive science activities, recycling or responsible consumption, road safety circuits, workshops on how to care for pets, crafts and drawing competitions.

You can find more information at Festival Website.

Barcelona 100 Souvenirs by Barcelona City Council

We’ve all strolled down the Rambla, touched the Canaletes Fountain, visited Parc Güell and other sites in the city known in every guide book. And yet, even the most famous of these have stories few of us know about. Fancy discovering them?

One of these is “Barcelona 100 Souvenirs“, published by Barcelona City Council. It pays tribue to the our city’s souvenirs and icons, through a route that puts the emphasis on curiosities. For example, did you know that the tradition of celebrating Barça’s titles at the Canaletes Fountain dates back to the 1930′s? As radios were not yet commonly used in those days, a newspaper would announce the results on a board next to the fountain.

You will also discover that Gaudí, the master of wrought iron technique, made the “Margallons“, iron gates decorated with palmetto-leaf designs, at the Casa Vicens, in the heart of Gràcia, part of which was moved to the entrance gate at Parc Güell; or that the origin of the current City Hall building goes back to the “Saló de Cent“, a 14th-century Gothic structure where the city’s hundred representatives would meet.

Joan Miró: The ladder of escape

Renowned as one of the greatest Surrealist painters, filling his paintings with luxuriant colour, Joan Miró worked in a rich variety of styles. This is a rare opportunity to enjoy more than 150 paintings, drawings, sculptures and prints from moments across the six decades of his extraordinary career. This exhibition is co-organised by Tate Modern and Fundació Joan Miró.

The exhibition also traces an anxious and politically engaged side to Miró’s work that reflects his passionate response to one of the most turbulent periods in European history. Working in Barcelona and Paris, Miró tracked the mood of the Spanish Civil War and the first months of the Second World War in France. It also shows that, behind the engaging innocence of his imagery, lies a profound concern for humanity and a sense of personal and Catalan national identity. Extraordinary works from different moments of his career celebrate his roots in his native Catalonia.

Fundació Joan Miró is located at Montjuic, accesible by Funicular from Parallel station, just in front of Hotel Barcelona Universal. You can reach Fundació Joan Miró also from Plaza Espanya, by bus line 50, stopping next to B-Hotel.

More information can be found at Fundació Joan Miró website.

Things we loved at U232 Hotel

We stayed at Hotel U232 for 3 nights during the first week of September. We chose this hotel because the rates were reasonable and we had arrived by train from Madrid and this hotel is located one easy and short metro ride from the Barcelona Sants Railway Station. As most reviewers have mentioned, the hotel is a little bit outside the heart of the city and it’s a bit of a pain to switch trains plus a hike through some really long corridors at the Diagonal Metro Station to get to La Rambla. But we found the benefits of staying at this hotel far outweighed the cons.

For us, we thought the biggest benefit (besides the proximity to the Sants train station) was the dining options in the area. Our best meals in Barcelona were all at restaurants within walking distance from this hotel, and prices around here were very reasonable compared to the tourist-driven restaurants in the city centre. We particularly loved Maitea Taberna and their wide variety of delicious tapas. Maitea Taberna is located about 2.5 blocks away from the hotel on Carrer de Casanova. The staff at the restaurant was very friendly and patient as we were trying to figure out the whole process. We loved the food there so much that we went back a second time. Another terrific restaurant was Gusto, located 1.5 blocks away and right across the street from the metro station.

I would come back to this hotel just to eat at those establishments again! Other things we loved about the hotel:

• Very quiet, spacious and comfortable rooms for reasonable rates. We stayed on the second floor and had a balcony. Albeit the balcony was right smack dab in the middle of a coutyard in the middle of a network of apartments. But it was nice to step outside on a warm night with a drink and look inside the well-lit apartments all around us!
• Free wi-fi plus there are two desktops and one printer for public use. Very handy as we didn’t bring our laptop with us.
• Room was equipped with a safe and fridge, which I think should be essentials in every hotel room.
• Besides the restaurants I mentioned above, there were also plenty of places where you can grab breakfast, or a quick bite.
• There are a couple of Suma supermarkets and they are both within 2 or 3 blocks from the hotel. Great place to buy snacks and drinks to stock the fridge.
• Even though you need to switch metro trains to get to La Rambla, there are some places that are easily accessible from this hotel, such as Sagrada Familia and the Sants Railway Station.
• Well staffed. Everytime we dealt with the front desk (checking in, checking out, storing luugage, questions), somebody was alway available to help us.

Room Tip: The rooms at the back at the hotel were very quiet. Didn’t hear any traffic during our entire stay.

Experience posted by Yan, October 2011.

Hotel Paral·lel: ottima posizione a Barcellona

Ho fruito dell’Hotel Paral·lel nella prima decade di settembre. Ha un’ottima posizione, infatti si trova a pochi passi dalla metro e dalla fermata di diverse ed importanti linee di autobus. Se qualcuno lo desidera può persino raggiungere a piedi La Rambla 600/700 mts e poco più il Monumento a Colombo ed il porto. L’Albergo risulta catalogato 2 stelle ma, NON vi fate ingannare, di sicuro ne ha qualcuna in più.

Le habitazioni sono grandi, accoglienti e moderne, il bagno è ottimo, il tutto con una pulizia eccellente ed il personale valido e disponibile. Vorrei consigliarlo a chi cerca il meglio senza buttare i soldi…

Experience posted by Pierluigi, October 2011.

The whitest party: Sensation Barcelona

After a spectacular world premiere with an audience of 40,000 in Amsterdam in July, the new edition is going to fill the Palau Sant Jordi with people dressed in white and ready to dance to this new festival concept.

On the 8th of October 2011, Sensation will make its return to Barcelona. The venue, Palau Sant Jordi, will be transformed into Innerspace, making it the second city to host Sensation’s latest theme after the premiere in the Amsterdam Arena.

Sensation started in Amsterdam in the year 2000. Since then, over 1,5 million visitors in seventeen countries have experienced what is arguably the world’s most spectacular dance and music phenomenon. Each year, Sensation tours the globe with a completely new show. Consistently taking the acclaimed theme ‘be part of the night, dress in white’ to new heights, Sensation’s aim is to bring a positive message to a growing global audience.

Barcelona will be dressing up in white with Sensation Innerspace, a new, exclusive event dedicated to dance music. Wally López, Sharam, Fedde Le Grand and Mr White are just some of the artists who will be bringing Barcelona the very best in electronic music at the moment. Máxima FM, the media partner for Sensation Barcelona, will broadcast the event.

Allocation near Palau Sant Jordi can be found at B-Hotel and Hotel Barcelona Universal.

Hotel Jazz: Recommended

It was the first time for me at Jazz Hotel, Barcelona. It was a really great discover!!

A warm and efficient welcome; a wonderful, brand new and design room; a full and succulent breakfast.

More the hotel is located in a few steps of the centre of Barcelona, just near Placa Catalunya et Ramblas (and in my case, for the “Merce festival week-end activities”). You go out the aerobus and you can enjoy your stay some minutes later. So great!

More? Enjoy the sun-deck swinning pool and have a look in the mirror of the lift…

En all that for a very competitive price!
I really recommand these hotel!! Don’t hesitate for your next stay.

I dont’ understand why it is only rated as a 3 stars and not as a 4 stars.

Experience posted by philippe.be, October 2011.

We chose to stay at Hotel Europark

We chose to stay at Hotel Europark from so many choices available, and after looking at the pictures which show how attractive this hotel is. However the web pictures do not tell the full story and convey the experience of meeting the wonderful staff. Every one of them are happy to be of assistance and to go out of their way to be helpful. When my wife had to go into hospital the staff were so supportive and sympathetic to me, and the help I received at that time was a great comfort to me. Thank you all very much, and I hope that my wife and I can return to the Hotel Europark very soon.

Experience posted by NRobertson, Sept. 2011.

Barcelona Electric Mopeds

The company Honda has given Barcelona City Council, for free, seventeen electric mopeds intended for various areas’ municipal services, including mobility and environment.

That means Barcelona is to become the first and only city in Europe to act as a testing ground for such vehicles, before they go on sale in the continent.

For his part, the Chairman of the company Montesa Honda SA, Yukitoshi Fujisaka, explained they chose our city because “motorbikes in Barcelona are an essential feature for transport and mobility“, and pointed out that it was “an important step towards extending zero-emission motorbikes to Europe“.

The tests, which are to be supervised by the RACC, who have also received a free moped, will be used for bringing about the appropriate adaptations to the model, designed for use at work, such as delivery and messaging services.

Aspects will be assessed such as its range, technical incidents and opportunities for improvement.

These mopeds, free of CO2 emissions, have seating for one person and a range of 34 km. Their batteries can be charged with a normal charger within three and a half hours, or with a fast charger within 30 minutes.

New fast chargers have also been provided, as well as eighteen portable charger and eighteen current transformers. Source: www.bcn.es

Thank you Hotel Barcelona Universal

To All the staff at Barcelona Universal Hotel,

Just wanted to thank you for being so wonderfully helpful and professional during our stay. It was our first time in Barcelona and you really made it a special occasion. We were really grateful for your help and advice on our travel and excursion arrangements. The service was truly exceptional.

The hotel is pristine and beautifully decorated. We will be recommending your hotel to all of our friends and contacts.

Looking forward to our next stay with you.

Experience posted by rebeccablinston, Sept 2011.

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